In Melbourne, Sarah Krasnostein won the prestigious $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, for her work The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster, with women and non-binary writers dominating in every category at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards; and Creative Victoria won the tender for the 2020, 2022 and 2024 Australian Performing Arts Market.

MARCH

In the lead-up to the South Australian election on 17 March, the Liberal Party opposition announced their policy of building a National Aboriginal Arts Centre and Gallery (rather than the mooted Adelaide Contemporary) should they win power. At an election debate later that month a bipartisan promise was made by the major parties to increase funding for SA artists by $1 million.

La Mama’s Liz Jones, BalletLab’s Phillip Adams and visual artist Pat Brassington were among the eight artists honoured in the 2018 Australia Council Awards, while Soda_Jerk’s provocative TERROR NULLIUS shocked one of its major backers, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust shortly before its premiere. In a statement the Trust said ‘it does not wish to be associated with the marketing or publicity promoting this production,’ despite having contributed financially to the project through the $100,000 Ian Potter Moving Image Commission, a collaboration between ACMI and The Ian Potter Cultural Trust.

In other news, Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum’s contentious relocation to Parramatta was confirmed; and in Perth, artists were up in arms as events management company JumpClimb entered voluntary administration, owing $200,000 in unpaid artists’ fees. Magician and mentalist Matt Tarrant was one of the artists left out of pocket. ‘This income was my lifeline for the next six months, it was paying for my rent, food, living expenses and my wedding. It's now gone, and I am left with nothing,’ he told ArtsHub.

This year's Federal Budget included an allocation of $48.7 million over four years to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's voyage to the South Pacific and Australia.

AUGUST

The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) held its Future/Forward conference in Canberra, discussing the need for a new Code of Practice and agitating for change; the ACT’s Minister for the Arts and Community Events, Gordon Ramsay, announced plans for a Creative Council, a new advisory body to help inform ACT Government arts policy; and in Adelaide, the Marshall Liberal Government dismissed Peter Louca, Executive Director of Arts South Australia, in what at first seemed part of a ‘State Government purge of Labor-appointed executives’, but which would soon be revealed to be the first step in a gutting and downgrading of Arts South Australia as a whole.

In happier news, it's rare to celebrate an arts policy or initiative's anniversary, but there are always exceptions – such as the 25th anniversary of Screen Australia's Indigenous Department, which helped bring films such as Warwick Thornton’s Samson and Delilah, Rachel Perkins’ Bran Nue Dae or Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires to our screens.

In Sydney, the Australia Council for the Arts announced the appointment of Adrian Collette AM as its new CEO. Speaking with ArtsHub a few days later, Collette said: ‘I think in the Australia Council, much like any other important institution in Australia, we talk a lot about its function but I think we also have to talk about its purpose. Talk about what it’s good at but also what it’s good for. And if you get that right then I think that’s a very powerful form of advocacy for the arts and for creative endeavour generally.’